Classic flick, filled with disappointed wives

<It was only Patroni who really loved his wife.>

Of the wives we see, I suppose so. But the pilot, Anson Harris [Barry Nelson], seemed to love his wife, though we don't see her. When Demarest [Martin] asks about his kids ["6?"..."No, 7"] as having to do with his "no fooling around on layovers," he briefly tells his story: He met his future-wife when she was a stewardess on DC4's, and we can obviously assume he was a flyer and got something going with her, then married her. We can't know whether she was pregnant when they married, or anything like that, but we can be sure that she left her job when they married, because back then-- late 40's or 50's-- women had to leave the job as stewardess; in fact, in many jobs women had to leave if they got married, and in some in which they could still work, they had to leave if they got pregnant. So she couldn't 'watch' him when he spent 2 or 3 days away from home flying the world. But there seems to be no mistaking his honesty in talking with Demarest that he always kept "the obvious promise."

The novel does contain this conversation, which is longer between them, and there is more arguing about the subject of abortion-- a word that I don't think is even said in the movie. Harris tells Demarest that he once saw an aborted fetus, and it had 'everything'-- head, body, arms, legs, fingers, toes-- so he does consider it killing. But he also makes the point that he (Harris) is not religious, but an agnostic, and still believes that. Demarest, plotting to make sure Gwen does have an abortion and then ditching her afterword, tells Harris "The problem with you is you have cobwebs in your brain!" and he regrets bringing it up, as he thought Harris would support his position. But overall, Demarest is more of a pompous weasel in the novel than he appears in the movie, and Mel Bakersfeld is right when he thinks his brother-in-law "considers himself a superior being, and can't stand it when others don't."

Wrong. He's an absolute dick. He prefers to spend his time at work instead of with his family and cheats on his wife with a younger woman. When she finally wants a divorce because she's fed up with it, he acts all innocent as if he always wanted to make his marriage work. He's a freaking hypocrite.

"If the men are dicks for cheating then why does the woman who cheats get a pussy pass?
Why are you so on her side for doing something you condemn the men for?"

What the hell are you talking about? Which woman was cheating on her husband?